...Treating Ovarian Cancer Tara Potter ITT Technical Institute/ Breckenridge School of Nursing In partial fulfillment of requirements in GE150 Survey of the Sciences/ Dr. Lok February 29, 2016 Treating Ovarian Cancer Cancers of the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and primary peritoneum are the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women in the U.S. These cancers are often found at advanced stages. According to my research, they don’t typically cause signs or symptoms in the early stages, also there isn’t very many screening tests for them. The most common type of ovarian cancer is called ovarian epithelial cancer. It begins in the tissue that covers the ovaries. This cancer sometimes begins at the end of the fallopian tube near the ovary and spreads to the ovary. Ovarian cancer can also begin in the peritoneum and spread to the ovary. The stages and treatment are the same for ovarian epithelial, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancers. To my surprise, while researching the genetic link pertaining to ovarian cancer I found that 90% of all ovarian cancer is acquired by chance while 10% is inherited. Research has successfully identified three hereditary factors that predispose women to ovarian cancer: 1. Spontaneous new mutations in the tumor suppressor genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 2. Susceptibility to HNPCC also known as Lynch Syndrome II, a hereditary disease that puts individuals at risk for ovarian cancer. 3.Hereditary mutations in the BRCA1 gene or BRCA2 gene. There are three...
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...Skin Cancer Skin cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in this country. The most common type of skin cancer is keratinocyte cancers such as basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas, which come from the main cell type of the epidermis and are most often caused by the effects of ultraviolet radiation on the skin. They are generally localized and rarely move to other areas. These cancers are easily identified as sores that won’t go away or crusting patches that grow mostly on sun-exposed parts of the body such as the hands, neck, arms, and face, they can be treated with routine surgical procedures. Malignant melanoma is a potentially serious type of skin cancer due to uncontrolled growth of pigment cells, called melanocytes. Melanomas are most common in white skinned people, but rarely develop in those with dark skin. There are many factors that can affect who deals with this, including inherited genes and genetic defects (gene mutations) that are acquired due to environment factors, such as excessive sun exposure. Gene mutations that are passed down from parent to child can increase the risk of melanoma. Variation in skin, hair, and eye pigmentation between people of different ancestries is one of the most noticeable human characteristics; it is very well known and understood that human skin color, hair color, and eye color is mostly genetic. The MC1R gene provides instructions for making a protein called the melonocartin 1 receptor. This receptor plays an important role...
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...syndrome is a rare type of dwarfism that is caused by a congenital defect. Seckel syndrome is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern and has been linked to genetic mutations on chromosomes 3, 18, and 14. How often Seckel syndrome occurs is not exactly known, but more than 100 cases have been reported in the medical literature. Many children diagnosed with Seckel syndrome are born to parents who are consanguineous, or closely related. This often causes prominent physical malformations, including a very short stature and a bird-like appearance. Serious mental retardation and blood disorders are also present in the majority of Seckel syndrome patients. Helmut Paul George Seckel was a prominent German physician who immigrated to the United States during World War II. In 1960, Seckel was the first physician to describe this disorder. It is also sometimes referred to as microcephalic primordial dwarfism, bird-headed dwarfism, and Virchow-Seckel dwarfism. A variant to this type of dwarfism is also known as Harper's syndrome, which was named after Dr. Rita G. Harper. Seckel syndrome is very rare, and only a handful of infants are diagnosed with it. It is believed to be a genetic disorder. Individuals born with this disorder typically have mutated chromosomes.These mutations can cause several physical mutations. An infant with Seckel syndrome will usually be born with a very low birth weight, due to improper growth prior to birth. Most of these infants will usually only weigh around...
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...run in families and identical twins who share the same genes are more likely to both have autism than are fraternal. So, genes are involved but isn’t easy to nail down what is going on genetically with autism. Autism and its entire spectrum of disorders is actually pretty common 1 in 166 people have it. Another way to explain a lot of these results is if autism weren’t in some of these folks trees to begin with. In some families autism just appears out of nowhere. Mount Sinai school of medicine in New York City, for example is offering a new blood test that examines 30 different genes for mutations known to be associated or autism or developmental delays. Some autism related genetic disorders also carry a high risk of cancer, siezures, heart diseases or other health problems, so knowing about them allows families and physians to be vigiliant for such issues. If a genetic mutation is found, researchers can also test the parents’ DNA to see if the problem was inherited or if it occurred spontaneously, in which case the risk of having another child with autism is no greater in the general population. Another possible outcome: The test could find abnormalities in those 30 genes- or find no “Variations of the unknown significance” Researchers at the University of Melbourne, Australia, have developed a test that looks for 237 genetic markers called single nucleotide-polymorphisims, some are thought to raise the risk of autism with more than 70% accuracy in people of central...
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...Unit II: Genetics Brief Overview Reading: Chapters 3, 4, 9-12, 14 (Note: you have reviewed much of this already) The earth is teeming with living things. We can easily see some of the larger organisms—trees, grass, flowers, weeds, cats, fish, squirrels, dogs, insects, spiders, snails, mushrooms, lichens. Other organisms are everywhere, in the air, in water, soil and on our skin, but are too small to see with the naked eye—bacteria, viruses, protists (single celled eukaryotes such as amoebae), and tiny plants and animals. Life is remarkable in its complexity and diversity, and yet it all boils down to a very simple idea—the instructions for making all this life are written in nucleic acids, usually DNA. Most organisms have a set of DNA that contains the instructions for making that creature. This DNA contains four “letters” in which these instructions are written—A, T, G, and C. The only difference between the code for a dog and the code for a geranium is in the order of those letters in the code. If you took the DNA from a human and rearranged the letters in the right way, you could produce an oak tree—arrange them slightly differently and you would have a bumble bee—arrange them again and you would have the instructions for making a bacterium. Acting through more than two billion years, the process of evolution has taken one basic idea—a molecular code that uses four letters—and used it over and over, in millions of combinations to produce a dazzling array of life forms...
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...PERSONALIZED MEDICINE The term "personalized medicine" reflects the growth of scientific understanding and medical tools that can help individualize care at a new level. Such tools can help match treatments to individual genetic variations, or differentiate between types and subtypes of diseases. A new patient has been diagnoses with a certain type lung cancer and because of genetic technology doctors now can hone with precision and with certainty when treating the patient. There will be no more lets try chemotherapy, no more we have a experimental drug we could try. Doctors can with certainty say this is how we are going to cure you because of genetic technology. In gene testing scientists scan a patient's DNA sample for mutated sequences. DNA can be obtained from any tissue to include blood. Gene testing can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on the size of the genes and any mutations detected. One of the most serious limitations of these susceptibility tests is the difficulty in interpreting a positive result because some people who carry a disease-associated mutation never develop the disease. A limitation of all medical testing is the possibility for laboratory errors. These might be due to sample misidentification, contamination of the chemicals used for testing, or other factors. The risks for discrimination and social stigmatization could outweigh the benefits of testing. While the FDA oversees the trials and final approval for certain medicines...
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...‘free will’ viewpoint. Genetic factors and disorders. Each cell in the body contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. One chromosome from each pair is inherited from your mother and one is inherited from your father. The chromosomes contain the genes you inherit from your parents. There may be different forms of the same gene. These different forms are called alleles. There are different genes that determine your eye colour and your hair colour. The different forms of genes are caused by mutations in the DNA code. Genetic disorders are depending on certain factors these are; what genes you inherit of your parents, whether the gene for that condition is dominant or recessive and their environment, including any treatment they may receive. An example of a genetic disorder is Sickle Cell Anaemia; Sickle cell anaemia is a disease where your body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells. The cells are shaped like a crescent or sickle used to cut wheat. Sickle cell anaemia is caused by a genetic mutation that affects normal development of red blood cells. Symptoms of sickle cell anaemia can have a significant impact on quality of life. Potential complications can be life-threatening. Biological Biological influences before birth, this includes the thing that the mother of the child does while she is pregnant...
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...concept of it, but implementing all but the most simple of changes is still beyond us. I see many options in this field. From modifying our cells to resist diseases and cancer, to merging our DNA with the DNA of animals. The way I see things unfolding, keeping in mind how society is like today, only the people who make a decent amount of money can afford to get their DNA modified the way they want. Diseases will never go away due to new unforeseen possibilities. Athletes will have modified their DNA to add the strength ratio of a chimp or gorilla to be better at sports. With the rate at how long it takes the majority of the people to accept a new way of life (look at gay rights for example), buy the time the masses can change their DNA, they would have many rules and regulations up and running to make sure people can’t abuse the new found power. In fact by that time there will be failsafe’s added so a criminal can’t go on a warpath and kill thousands of innocent people. Businesses will use it to their advantage as well. If you need a security guard for the night shift, why not give him night vision on top of anything else that would be needed. We could finally explore the planet in its entirety due to being able to adapt to any place on it. Even with all the possible good, the down side to this is possible mutations. We could be no longer considered human. We could even go as far as losing society in general and actually revert to a more basic way of living. Or even both. You could...
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...Role of genetics in development Will I have a blue or brown eyed child? Will he be tall or short? Will she have my chin or nose? What do all these questions have in common? They are all questions where genetics play a role. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes; they are small thread-like structures in the nucleus of the cells. Half, or 23, of the 46 chromosomes come from the mother and the other half their father (Mandal, n.d.). From eye color to hair color genetics plays a role in a person’s biological makeup. But studies have also show that genetics play a role in illnesses and disease that can affect both physical and mental health. Genetics play a role in determining the physical makeup of a child, the psychological or mental makeup of a child and also certain abnormalities such as Tay-Sachs disease. The role of genetics can predetermine many different characteristics of a human being. Genetics play a role in development of physical traits. Genes are passed down from the mother and the father but before we can get there, let’s start at the beginning. A sperm and an egg each have one copy of the gene to make up an individual. When the sperm fertilizes the egg, two copies of each gene are present and the new life begins. Each egg and sperm cells contain 23 chromosomes. When they are joined together a fertilized egg will be formed with 46 chromosomes but sometime the egg or sperm will not divide correctly. Sometimes when the egg and sperm unite they will have...
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...Evolvability of Animal Developmental Systems: Remarks on their Modularity and Robustness Riddhi Benani Department of Life Sciences Imperial College London, UK Supervisor: Prof Armand Leroi June 11, 2012 Abstract The ultimate aim of Evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo) is to answer questions about evolvability of animal developmental systems. Evolvability or the ability to evolve is a ubiquitous property of living organisms. More specifically, it is the capacity to generate heritable, non-lethal phenotypic variation. Biologists have long recognized that evolvability of developmental programs in animals is key to their complex morphological architecture. However there is an increasing need to synthesize known facts about the developmental phenomena into mechanistic descriptions of complex systems. This ambition demands the need to understand the underlying determinants of evolvable developmental systems. I aim to review the dynamics of two systems-level phenomena: modularity and robustness and their evolutionary implications. Despite a plethora of literature, these terms have remained very ambiguous. Modularity reduces interdependence of components and confers robustness. Robustness, which is broadly understood, as the insensitivity of a biological systems functionalities to perturbations is another design principle in itself. Such robustness could enhance the potential for future evolutionary innovations. Both these properties therefore affect evolvability of a lineage...
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...Netherland. De Vries is wanted for his 1900 he rediscovered Mendel’s law of heredity, his theory of biological mutation and introduction of the term mutation. De Vries spent 13 years of observing his Oenothera lamarckiana (evening primrose) to prove his theory that species came from other species, through huge changes of characteristic traits (the” theory of mutation”). De Vries noticed that once in a while an offspring would have a great difference in characteristic traits from the original plant. In 1901 he published his findings on mutation in his book the Mutation Theory. His theory of mutation was also widely accepted by people because his work was the first experimental study of evolution in a large scale. Hugo de Vries was born on February 16, 1848 in Haalem, Netherland. De Vries is wanted for his 1900 he rediscovered Mendel’s law of heredity, his theory of biological mutation and introduction of the term mutation. De Vries spent 13 years of observing his Oenothera lamarckiana (evening primrose) to prove his theory that species came from other species, through huge changes of characteristic traits (the” theory of mutation”). De Vries noticed that once in a while an offspring would have a great difference in characteristic traits from the original plant. In 1901 he published his findings on mutation in his book the Mutation Theory. His theory of mutation was also widely accepted by people because his work was the first experimental study of evolution in a large scale...
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...Laboratory 1- Scientific Literacy Skills and Ethics REFERENCES Agashe D. 2009. The stabilizing effect of intraspecific genetic variation on population dynamics in novel and ancestral habitats. Am. Nat. 174: 255–267. Agashe D, Bolnic DI. 2010. Intraspecific genetic variation and competition interact to influence niche expansion. Proc. R. Soc. B. 277(1696):2915-2924. Dumont DJ, Gradwohl G, Fong GH, Puri MC, Gertenstein M, Auerbach A, Breitman ML. 1994. Dominant-negative and targeted null mutations in the endothelial receptor tyrosine kinase, tek, reveal a critical role in vasculogenesis of the embryo. Genes Dev. 8:1897-1909. Hamada K, Sasaki T, Koni PA, Natsui M, Kishimoto H, Sasaki J, Yajima N, Horie, Y, Hasegawa G, Naito M, Miyazaki J, Suda T, Itoh H, Nakao K, Wah Mak T, Nakano T, Suzuki A. 2005. The Pten/pI3k pathway governs normal vascular development and tumor angiogenesis. Genes Dev. 19:2054-2065. Jennifer Y. 2002. Genetic Variation in a Population. Animal Sciences. New York: Macmillan Reference USA. Lee CS, Orci L, Hamamoto S, Futal E, Ravazzola M, Schekman R. 2005. Sar1p n-terminal helix initiates membrane curvature and completes the fission of a copii vesicle. Cell. 122(4):605-617 Robinson R. 2003. Genetics. New York: Macmillan Reference USA. Wilmoth B, Lerner K. 2003. World of microbiology and immunology. Detroit: Gale. Yachie1 A, NiidaY, Wada T, Igarashi N, Kaneda H, Toma T, Ohta K, Kasahara Y, Koizumi S. 1999. Oxidative stress causes enhanced...
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...Questions and Answers If You Are in Favor of Genetics in the Courtroom… Question 1: Why do you think that evidence of a defendant's genetic makeup should be allowed in a courtroom? Do you think that a person with genes that make him or her aggressive and unable to control his or her impulses is "less guilty" than someone who commits the same crime but has a normal set of genes? Yes but only if the behavioral genetic mutation has been peer reviewed by other medical scientists and there has been several cases of the mutation present. On the other hand, using behavioral genetic mutation as an excuse to decrease the severity of the punishment, could lead to more tax dollars put into someone that does society no justice, or purpose. I do not see the point on wasting money on someone that will just sit in jail and require extra attention. Extra attention means more staffing and with more staffing, leads to an increase in cost per inmate. Housing inmates has no return on this investment. This particular gene that creates the enzyme called monoamine oxidase- A would need to be measure in the “normal” human and the “mutated” human to compare the level of potency of the enzyme. If this person was a frequent drug user that caused the low level on MOAO, then the argument should not be valid, since they made the conscience choice to alter their body make up; however, if one was born with the lack of MOAO, I believe it would be okay. Genetics should not be allowed in the courtroom...
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...The Role of Genetics on Development Michelle Kennedy Nunez PSY104: Child and Adolescent Development Prof. John Gamble April 22, 2013 The Role of Genetics on Development There is a lot of excitement and uncertainty when a child enters the world. Which parent will the baby look like? She might have her mother’s blue eyes or perhaps he will have his father’s curly hair. Is this child going to be outgoing? Will the finished product of the pregnancy be healthy? Is it possible that the baby has inherited a mutation or disease? All of the answers to these questions can be answered by genetics. Genetics determine the development of the fetus in the womb and further determine the development of that fetus into a separate organism outside of the mother. Genetic material is donated equally by the parents to the child and plays a large role in the development of the reproductive offspring. Genetics can determine things as simple as the ultimate height of an individual. As an adult, an individual may be predisposed to carry extra weight on their body. Often times, when people chalk something up to genetics they look to the example of their mother and father. “The entire genetic code of a human is determined by the unique combination of a mother’s single ovum (egg) and a father’s single sperm” (Mossler, 2011). This means that each and every person walking the Earth is a combination of their biological parents, who are in turn a combination of their biological parents...
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...SSM2 Introduction Eukaryotic cells contain hair-like projecting organelles, known as cilia and flagella, which are involved in many sensory and motile functions of the human body, thus any abnormalities in their characteristic 9+2 axonemal structure or their functioning can lead to many different disease processes. In my review I will look at the structure and functions of eukaryotic cilia in the human body and the ways in which mutated or abnormal gene expression can result in their malfunction and cause disease, looking specifically at Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia and the DNAH5 gene. Structure of cilia Cilia and flagella have very similar structures. Cilia are about 0.25 micrometers in diameter and 2-20 micrometers long (4) and flagella tend to be longer, 10-100micrometers and fewer per cell than cilia. They are both synthesized by and project from structures known as basal bodies which are a type of centriole located at the cells periphery, which anchors cilia to the cells body and cytoskeleton. They are also microtubule organizing centers which control the direction of the movement of the cilia (1). Both cilia and Flagella are made up of nine outer fused pairs of microtubule doublets (see figure 1) (3)(8), one of which is complete (A- tubule) and one incomplete (B-tubule), which join together via nexin protein links creating a circular network of microtubule doublets(3) (see figure 1) which surrounds two central single microtubules...
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